This Week in Pinball
Posts
TWIP Tuesday – Black Friday/Cyber Monday, Monster Bash Details, Thunderbirds New Ramp, Jeff Goldblum, Roger Sharpe’s Mustache, More

TWIP Tuesday – Black Friday/Cyber Monday, Monster Bash Details, Thunderbirds New Ramp, Jeff Goldblum, Roger Sharpe’s Mustache, More

— What Else is Happening in Pinball —

Black Friday and Cyber Monday Pinball Deals

It is Thanksgiving week – family, friends, food, football! And Thanksgiving also brings some of the best pinball deals and sales of the year – we’ll have an article launching first thing on Thursday that lists all the pinball sales we know of happening this weekend!

Monster Bash Remake – More Details

Chicago Gaming Company weighed in on Pinside this week to give some more details on Monster Back Remake:

On Insert Lighting:

Should anyone prefer white GIs to the RGB GIs, there is a software setting in both MBr LE and SE that allows the owner to set the GIs to be a constant white.

It is surprisingly difficult to consistently make a specific white with RGB LEDs. We spent considerable time designing circuitry that provides us 256 levels of adjustment for each color. This allows us to theoretically make more than 16 million unique colors.

Additionally, we sourced RGB LEDs with very tight color wavelength specs for each of the three colors.

If you disable the RGB lighting on the SE or LE, the game will default to a warm white very close in color to the GIs used in AFMr and MBr. Should you prefer cool white GIs, a simple software setting allows you to change the GIs to cool white.

The circuitry we developed allows us to create any pantone color that can be produced on an LCD display. It also allows us to do very smooth fades and color transition. We tie many of the RGB GI light effects into the colors used on the XL Display. A lot of work went into choreographing the RGB GI light shows.

We entirely understand that people have differing preferences and, where possible, always try to provide adjustments that allow the owner to adjust the game to their specific tastes.

On if it is possible to make SE and LE games use the old DMD animations with single color:

Yes, there is a setting in the CGC menu that sets the game to display the original dot art in any single color the owner specifies.

On the Availability of the Limited Edition Models:

I believe transparency is usually best so let me explain how dealer allocations were determined and what I know about the availability of MBr LEs.

MBr LEs were allocated to CGC dealers based on the number of AFM LEs they previously sold plus or minus an adjustment for the number of non-LE units they sold above or below the average number of non-LE sales per dealer.

The one exception is Planetary Pinball which receives a fix percentage of LEs as a term of our contract with Planetary.

CGC has received purchase orders from our dealers for all 1250 MBr LEs (less 10 pieces we held back for friends).

Dealers were required to submit deposits by 11/9/2018. As of today, we are still waiting for deposits from a small number of dealers. If a dealer fails to make deposits those units would be reallocated to other dealers.

The number units sold by CGC is a very different thing than the total number of units that dealers have sold through to end customers.

At this point, I believe approximately 2/3rds of dealers have sold through their allocations. Of course, distributors that receive smaller allocations tend to sell through their allocations first.

Additionally, Planetary Pinball has sold a portion of their allocation to a few CGC dealers that needed additional units. It is possible other dealers may buy additional LEs from Planetary.

At this point, I believe the only immediate risk is not being able to buy a LE from your dealer of choice.

Larger dealers are more likely to be impacted by new requirements to collect sales tax as most states only require retailers to collect sales tax when their sales exceed a threshold amount into the state. I believe that amount is $100k in sales for many states.

I don’t know if this information is helpful but now you know what I know.

Thunderbirds New Ramp

Homepin shared last week that they would be replacing the plastic middle ramp on Thunderbirds with a new metal ramp:

The Pinball Company WeFunder Campaign

Last week, The Pinball Company launched a WeFunder Campaign, which you can view here. The Pinball Company is located in Columbia, Missouri, and they sell new and used pinball machines to their customers. According to the WeFunder Campaign, their ambition is as follows:

“We aim to expand our locations to be within a days’ drive of 80% of our customers. This will allow us to better serve the commercial market that’s been going strong and the emerging market of everyday consumers who want something different for their home entertainment. By being close to our customers we’ll be able to take care of everything personally, from sales to delivery and setup to maintenance. This gives them the best experience while allowing us to save on outsourcing.”

They have also stated via Pinside:

“Our goal is to be the largest operator of pinball machines in the country. We want to promote pinball to the masses and there are obvious synergies with our retail business.”

If you’d like to read more, there are two threads on Pinside covering this information. The first was started shortly after the campaign launched, and can be found here. The second thread was started recently by The Pinball Company, as they weigh in with more information and clarify some of their plans.

Top 10 World’s Under Glass – SDTM

Our friends Zach and Greg from Straight Down the Middle: a Pinball Show released their top 10 World’s Under Glass last week – do you agree or disagree with their choices?